PUC Chronicle

Issue date: 2/26/07 Section: Entertainment

Feb. 6, Steve Jobs wrote an open letter to all music companies expressing his thoughts on Digital Rights Management. He stated, in his characteristic way, that the importance of iTunes DRM protection is marginal and he doesn't care because they'll be using iPod's to listen to music, anyhow. He proposed everyone should stop using DRM protection altogether. Though he makes it a general statement, Jobs is really targeting the music companies.
[what is DRM, in lehman's terms?]
Jobs is basing his claim on the evidence that DRM music doesn't sell well, and this is where things get a little tricky. This is because there's two kinds of DRM - DRM managed and DRM protected.
DRM protection is what most people are used to seeing and hearing about. Music sold on iTunes is DRM protected, but so is music sold for each of the Zune and Connect players. This, of course, makes music for one player incompatable for any other player.
DRM management is best described as the Content Scrambling System that DVDs use after you take out region codes. The rights of the movie are managed, not protected. This means you can enjoy a movie on any brand DVD player and not be hassled by the company. Jobs doesn't want DRM protection; he wants management.
This is where Leonardo Chiariglione comes in. Chiariglione is the chair for both the Moving Picture Experts Group and the Digital Media Project. Both groups try to respect the rights of content creators while creating less hassle for users. His response to Jobs is mostly an explaination of the difference between DRM protection and management but near the end he makes some good points.
He gives an example of good DRM management and protection through the Global System for Mobile Communication and how it's helped the cell phone business flourish. He goes on to say DRM management at this point in digital media isn't really necessary. But when it is, a standard will be needed for it to work, a standard that everyone can agree on.
I, for one, agree with the both of them. DRM protection is useless these days and we should be focusing on DRM management to get rid of the headache it's been causing people.

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